Playdom Investor Tim Chang on Why Social Gaming Is Hot

Interest in social gaming is jumping to new heights. One of the players in the space, Playdom Inc., just raised a giant-sized $43 million round from Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners and Rick Thompson, one of the co-founders and an existing angel investor in the company.

That funding comes just a day after news that competitor Playfish Inc. has agreed to be acquired by Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) for $300 million plus $100 million in potential earn-outs. A third company, Zynga Inc., which also makes games played on social networking sites, has raised nearly $40 million from venture investors and is currently locked in litigation with Playdom over theft of trade secrets.

We caught up with Tim Chang, principal at Norwest, to talk about Playdom’s latest funding. Here’s an edited excerpt of our interview:

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